


Kingdom Hearts Re:Tooled

by Haluwasa2



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: More tags to come later, Multi, Other, any romance will come later, everyone is from different worlds au, lost boy ventus, merman sora, pirate riku, this is a long haul so while the fic is multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haluwasa2/pseuds/Haluwasa2
Summary: What if the only ones who could save the world had never met? What if they had never shared a paopu fruit? Never had the Wayfinders? Never shared ice cream on top of a train station? What if their lives had all been dealt a different hand of cards?A young merman called Sora and his best friend are pulled suddenly away from their world by the blaring of trumpets and a blast of light. Always having dreamed of traveling to the worlds in the stars they saw at night, the two are excited, but trouble is brewing. The two of them and the rest of a ragtag bunch brought together by a mysterious wizard must find a way to work together to keep all of their worlds safe.





	1. Call to Arms

Dawn was settling in, the sky orange with warmth. Light glimmered along the surface of the ocean as though it were a mirror of the sky. The only break in the mirror was the head of a young boy surfacing, appreciating his place among the waves. He looked around and dove back under the water. His daily routine would not be interrupted by anything, but the good weather was appreciated. Besides, it was always fun to listen to music and watch the daybreak. 

Sora flicked his tail as he pushed through the early morning currents. To match the beautiful dawn, they were easy to maneuver through. There was no shortage of excitement within him. His heart beat as though he were swimming for his life. This daily routine was just that, but he would never tire of the highlight of his day. It was worth every single danger, every single day to day tight-lipped attitude about where he went and what he did at dawn every morning. 

He crested gently approaching a rocky ledge that was just within his reach. He grabbed its edges, hoisting himself upward. The sun warmed his back as it peaked further over the horizon. His tanned skin soaked it up readily as he hoisted himself over, blue tail flopping onto the rock. He sighed gently as watched the dawn. Normally, he wasn’t one to suntan. Other merfolk enjoyed it, but he did few things without purpose, being the adventurous type that he was. This was for a friend-- one that was late. 

“Sora!” 

Fashionably late, then. That was a comfort more than anything. 

Sora turned and smiled, “Emyd!” The merman sat up and put his hands behind his head, watching the blond human jog up to him. Strapped to the other boy’s back was a large blue sitar. Once he sat down he promptly brought it to his front. Sora crosses his arms, “You’re late.”

“No way! You’re early today,” said the other with a laugh, shoving the other gently. 

“What can I say? The currents were good. We should go swimming.”

Emyd released a sarcastic laugh, “Not in my concert clothes.” Emyd was dressed in one of his best, a blue double-breasted jacket and one of those poofy neckerchiefs that felt soft against Sora’s fingers when he was allowed to touch them. He was so rarely allowed--Emyd feared any dampness on his attire could alert his family to his morning routine. 

The sun caught the glimmer of Emyd’s necklace-- a simple silver musical note on a matching chain. Sora recognized the eighth note anywhere. He had to look at enough of Sebastian’s music to know by now. Sora never participated in the concerts back at the palace. Mostly he was to set up instruments for the musicians to play. He never complained, though. It gave him plenty of free time to explore his vast ocean home. 

Emyd nudged him, smiling, “Ready?”

“Of course. You?”

“You have to ask?” Emyd strummed gently and began to play a tune. Sora smiled, moving himself over to rest against Emyd’s arm, knowing he had dried himself enough. They laughed and Sora began a shaky note. His friend Princess Ariel was always the better singer. To be honest, Sora was a passable singer at best, but Emyd never seemed to care. Of the two, it was clear to see who was the musically inclined, though Emyd’s necklace probably alerted anyone to that quickly without demonstration.  

When they had first met, Emyd had been strumming happlessly, but beautifully, and Sora had piped in quietly from beneath the rock. However, he had swam away before Emyd could find him. But Sora returned, ever curious of the musician. He had no idea what Emyd was-- back then, he was simply a being with no tail. When Sora had asked Sebastian, the crab seemed like he could have died on the spot. It took coaxing, but Sora quickly found out what Emyd was. A real-live human! But to this human, Sora was no more than a legend. What a laugh that had been!

The first time Sora had hauled himself onto the rock to say hello, Emyd had fallen off of it and gotten soaked to the bone. Perhaps when one almost drowns, you can’t help but become friends. After that, the two began to meet, every morning to sing and strum. Music danced softly up to the sky in tribute to the dawn. When they had first started to do it, they were barely anything more than children. They were still young, but ten years had passed since they had met each other. Sora planned to give Emyd a gift to celebrate it soon.  

It was a forbidden friendship that felt like it had lasted a lifetime. 

“...We should do this tonight and watch the sunset!” Sora declared excitedly.

Emyd ran a hand over his slicked backed hair, a small length of it dangling in a ponytail. He sighed, shaking his head, “No can do, Sora...Concert. Again.” He picked gently at his jacket, tugging as though the sheer weight of it was too much for him. 

“Man, you’re busier than Ariel…” replied Sora, resting his hands behind his head. But Emyd was a ‘prodigy’. Whatever that was. Sora huffed and thought, “Then let's sit out under the stars one night.”

Emyd smiled, “Alright! Stars one night soon...That’s a can do!” He shoved the merman gently causing Sora to lean over before shoving him back, smirking. Emyd strummed idly staring up at the rising sun. He sighed gently, “...What do they say about the stars where you live?”

“That they’re other worlds,” sighed Sora with a smile, “Just waiting to be discovered. What about yours?”

“Glowing balls of gas.”

Sora laughed, leaning over. Waves of laughter rocked through his body. With an infectious air, Emyd began to laugh as well. Both boys could have laughed forever in that moment. That could have been their life forever. A laugh. A smile. Their songs. The sun beating down on them both as they willingly let it become part of them, entwining with their being. These moments were what their memories were usually like.

Life was simplicity. 

Life was about to get more complicated.  

It began with a roaring trumpet, causing Sora to flinch and cover his ears. When it was over he turned to Emyd who was looking at him quizzically, lips parted slightly in confusion. Sora furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out why Emyd looked so puzzled. Had only he heard the trumpets? He opened his mouth to ask his friend, when a flash of light flared.

Both saw that, even if Emyd had not heard the trumpets. Sora grabbed onto his friend’s arm, finding it in the blinding light. He could barely see Emyd through how bright the light was shining. He yelled for his friend, but he could barely hear his voice-- it sounded like no more than a whisper. Still, he thought he could hear Emyd calling for him. The human’s arms reached out and wrapped around Sora, pulling the other to him safely, trying to shield the other from the bright light. 

It was only then that Sora realized he was being tugged away. Something unseen was at his back, his shoulders, his  _ tail _ , pulling him away and upwards. In his chest, Sora’s heart beat harder and louder than any drum he had ever heard in his life. It felt like it would jump straight out of his chest and into Emyd’s. Sora wrapped his arms back around his friend, trying to hold onto the blonde’s lithe frame as if it were an anchor. This only resulted in the opposite effect.

Sora realized, through what he could hear of Emyd yelling, that he was tugging the other along with him. Sora needed to let go. Whatever was about to happen, Emyd had a concert tonight. He needed to get home. With panic, Sora tried to break his hands away and found that he could not. It was as though he and Emyd were locked together, being tugged toward the dawn that they had just been singing to. His eyes had long since been closed to shield from the bright light. The trumpets had begun to roar again, further drowning out the sounds of Emyd screaming. Had he been screaming too? His throat felt sore enough for it. 

And in an instant, it was over.

There were no trumpets. Once they quieted down enough, he realized that Emyd was close-- close enough to hear his breath and heartbeat. They were alive. They were okay. Sora’s eyes fluttered open. This was not their rock. In fact, he couldn’t imagine they were anywhere Sora knew at all. There was a tall towering building made of some material that was a rosy beige-- or perhaps the rosy tint was a trick of the light. Sora could not tell. When he looked up, the roof on each of the towers glimmered in greens and blues. Had there been sunlight, Sora might have been blinded. But there was no sunlight, there were only stars twinkling in the distance. 

And it was in that moment, Sora realized that he was standing. And when he almost fell. 

Thankfully, Emyd had been quick to catch him. Sora looked down at himself. His usually sleek dolphin-mimic tail was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he was wearing what appeared to be some sort of red jumper with a blue jacket. On his feet-- Oh by Poseidon, his feet!-- he had on large yellow shoes. His new legs wobbled, unused to existing. Emyd’s hold tightened to keep his friend steady. They looked at each other-- Sora could read every emotion on Emyd’s face. The other had always been an open book. There was a smile, but his eyes screamed fear and nervousness. Wherever they were, they certainly were far from home.

But Sora had  _ legs _ . 

“Are you two alright?” The voice who asked had a firmness to it, but it was soft and comforting not unlike the hum of a mother’s lullaby. Perhaps, she sounded a bit weary, too. Emyd and Sora looked at her. 

She was an average sized girl with blue hair, wearing what Sora could only describe as a very large one of Emyd’s neckerchiefs, but Emyd knew to be a toga, though not a long one. It was blue and white and dropped only to her knees. At her waist, a sword was strapped to a belt and she wore a silver chest plate on her front. She stared at them, raising an eyebrow and looking between the two boys.

“Fine...Not used to walking,” replied Sora. 

“...What?” she asked, her head tilting. 

“Uh...Nothing,” he said waving his hands, which caused Emyd to let him go. Sora tried to stay on his own two feet but ended up falling flat down on his end. He sighed and smiled, putting his hands behind his head and laughed, “I’m just tired, don’t worry about me.” The girl didn’t seem convinced.

Emyd spoke before she could press him for a further explanation, “...Uh, Sora?” Sora looked up at his friend but saw the other staring at the small grassy area beside them. Sora turned to look, his eyes widening a little. They weren’t alone and it wasn’t just the blue haired girl. Besides the three of them, there were seven more people regaining their senses of balance in the grassy field below the tower. 

Sra’s eyes were first drawn to a girl in a pink dress being steadied by a taller, older boy with silvery blue hair that went over one of his eyes. Then an older boy-- almost a man, really-- wearing nothing but a strip of fabric around his waist standing on the balls of his feet and his knuckles, looking at them all suspiciously. Two boys were eyeing him up uncertainly, one with fiery red hair and one with blue. Both were dressed in nothing more than pants and opened vests with the exception of a twisted yellow bandana around the redhead’s neck. 

Another boy was sitting down as well, staring up at the stars as though he were searching with his big blue eyes. His spiky blond hair was peaking out of a fuzzy white hat with ears. And then finally, one more boy, closest to the tower. His face was beaten with sun and he wore several layers, looking like they almost once been part of Emyd’s wardrobe, but only if he had spent several days in them without a wash. He too had a bandana, though his own was wrapped around his forehead, and Sora caught a glimpse of jewelry on him despite him hiding in the shadows cast by the tower. 

Sora grabbed Emyd’s hand, it's familiar presence a grateful grounding tool, and let the other balance him. His legs were still quaking a bit, but as long as Emyd was near he could be supported. Fear swirled around in Sora’s chest, panging at his heart as though it were trapped in a storm. They were so far from home...But Sora’s adventurous spirit was already braving the storm in his chest. 

“Emyd,” he said, softly, but gaining more confidence as he went on, excitement reaching crescendo, “I think...this is another world!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, my original note got deleted and I didn't save but to sum up:
> 
> This is a long haul story of mine, basically "retooling" Kingdom Hearts as a story where the 7 lights are the main characters all coming from different worlds...with some friends. I plan to do each of the games except BBS (bc it will be spread out throughout the other games) and Re:Coded (unless I find a place for it). I'm very excited to bring this to you guys and I'm having a lot of fun writing it. Update days are Mondays but it may go late if I can't keep two chapters ahead. Sometimes, I may let myself fall to one chapter ahead if I'm very excited for the upcoming chapter.


	2. Yen Sid, The Sorcerer

At some point Sora had laced his hand with Emyd’s in an effort to keep himself upright. Stunned heart and nearly quivering legs, Sora couldn’t help but stare up at the purple-black sky that hovered above their heads, each star twinkling as though they were speaking to each other. No, each  _ world _  was twinkling in the distance. Sora had gone unusually quiet as though he couldn’t process anything that was going on. In truth, he was processing everything and quickly--far quicker than Emyd was by any chance. The young musician was letting his mouth open and close much like a fish.

Finally, Emyd spoke breathily, “Mother is going to have a fit…”

Gently, Sora squeezed his friend’s hand. He was watching Emyd’s chest now, it heaving up and down flowing in waves of thrilled excitement and absolute dread. Emyd could barely feel the comfort from his friend, but it did settle him a bit. Slowly, Emyd turned his head to look at Sora, a small smile washing over his face. There was something new in his eyes-- it looked like a spark of  _ something _  that Sora couldn’t quite place. But Sora had not seen such a look since he had asked Emyd if the other would like to be friends.

A yelp rang out across the field and the two boys quickly turned their head. The fiery redhead was on the ground, his legs kicking at the older boy who had been walking on his toes and knuckles. The other was sniffing at him with curiosity and it seemed that the redhead had taken offense to that. His blue haired companion was tugging his fallen friend away as if getting ready to step in and put himself between the two. Sora did not see it at first, but Emyd saw the flash of a knife against the blue haired boy’s arm-- the blue haired girl saw it as well.

“Hey!” she shouted, “Now is no time to be fighting!” She put her hand gently on the dark haired boy’s shoulder causing him to growl and back away like a cornered animal. The girl huffed softly, her lips pursing for a moment before she spoke, “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m Aqua.”

The other boy grunted. Aqua sighed gently and looked around at everyone in the field, “Does anyone know where we are?”

The redhead was standing now brushing himself off, “Does it  _ look _  like any of us are from here?”

“I don’t plan on assuming.” The redhead rolled his eyes at her words. She sighed, “I’m--”

“Aqua, I heard.”

“And you are?” She leaned forward, as if prompting him to speak.

“None of your business.”

Sora watched Aqua purse her lips, her eyes closing for a moment. He could have almost laughed-- the only person who could do that face was King Triton when he was frustrated with Ariel. Everything in her was brimming with the new test to her patience. Her lips formed an ‘o’ and she let out a soft breath, her eyes fluttering open again. Those same lips forced a smile, brimming with frustration.

She spoke curtly, “We should be finding out where we are.”

“Who put you in charge?”

Sora was surprised to hear his own voice ring out, “Well, no one one else was gonna.” Emyd’s head whipped to stare at his friend. He looked back at the redhead and his friend-- that blue haired boy still had the knife. With a gentle tug, Emyd kept Sora pressed to him closely in order to keep him from harm. His eyes were trained warily on the blue haired boy’s arm, where he had last seen the knife.

With his eyes narrowed, the redhead looked like he was about to bite back, but his companion rested his hand on the redhead’s shoulder, “Lea. Enough. They’re right.” Emyd couldn’t help but sigh with relief. His hold on Sora relaxed a little. The tension in the air was starting to disperse, but not the uneasiness. This place was still strange. It was just the field and the tall tower. Everything felt so closed in and small compared to the kingdom, full of its stone pathways and many street towns. Not to mention Sora’s own deep ocean. Sora couldn’t disagree more. His eyes had looked up at the sky again. The world had just gotten a whole lot bigger.

“I’m Isa,” the blue haired boy said, “This is Lea.”

Lea tapped the side of his head with his finger, smirking, “Got it memorized?”

“Sora.” Said Boy smiled brightly at them, tilting his head as he stared at Lea’s odd gesture.

“I-I’m Emyd,” the other added a little sheepishly.

“My name’s Kairi.”

All the present heads turned quickly. The girl in the pink dress was standing confidently now. She looked nervous, her eyes bouncing  back and forth between all the knew faces. The older boy who had helped her up that was hovering over her, eyes cold and analytic at each of them. His lips were turned down in a terse frown. Kairi looked up at him, shaking her head. She tried a friendly smile, even if it was a little forced.

“Don’t mind Ienzo. He’s, uh, protective.”

Lea raised an eyebrow, scoffing, “Is he mute or somethin’?”

“He is not,” Ienzo practically growled. Sora felt Emyd tug him close again as Ienzo and Lea stared each other down.

A star struck voice broke the building tension, “I’m Ventus.” The boy in the wolf hat was laying on the ground, his hand reaching up to the stars. He moved his hand back and forth as though he was trying to find something, “We’re very far away...The stars are different here…” Sora watched Lea look wearily at Isa. Isa elbowed him gently.

Aqua, meanwhile, looked over at the boy standing in the shadows of the tower, “And you are?”

“...Captain Riku.”

Ventus rolled over, “Captain?”

“Aye.”

“Like a pirate?”

Captain Riku stepped into the light. His arms were crossed and he was scowling at the boy. Aqua frowned, looking reading to step in front of Ventus. Riku huffed, “Not like a pirate. I  _ am _  a pirate.” Sora stared in wonder, his heart pounding in his chest. A real life pirate! In the flesh and everything! Riku wasn’t quite like the pirates he had heard about from Emyd though. His skin coarse and several scars did mar his frame, but he had no big hat or beard, not even a peg leg or an eyepatch. He had an earring hanging from his right ear and a head of long silvery hair, a few stands were braided and tied off with beads. At his waist hung a rapier and a pistol. He didn’t seem much older Emyd, Sora realized once he could get a better look at his face.

Ventus seemed less impressed than Sora did. He rolled his eyes and only spoke one word, “ _ Codfish. _ ”

Riku’s eyes widened, “You indignant little brat--” Ventus hopped onto his feet almost as though he were gliding.

“I’ll fight you anyday, codfish!” He smiled broadly, going for a dagger than hung from a loose makeshift belt made of rope that hung around his belt.

“I think that’s Captain Codfish to you,” snickered Lea. Isa elbowed him again, looking wholly unimpressed with his friend baiting the situation.

Aqua huffed moving between them all once more. She cleared her throat, “ _ Enough _ . No one is fighting anyone. We’re all lost. I think. I know this is no place in Olympus Coliseum at any rate. And if we want to stand any chance of getting back to our worlds, then we stand the best chance of doing that by working together.”

Isa nodded, slowly, “She’s right. Lea and I are from Agrabah--”

“And let me tell ya, there is never this much green there,” added Lea.

“...What’s Agrabah? Why is there no green?” asked Sora, curiously as Emyd helped him move closer to the group.

“It’s a desert.” Sora looked dumbfounded. Emyd had told him about deserts-- they were big expanses of sand for miles and miles. And there was no water. Sora knew he was not to trifle with such a place. He smirked inwardly, with glee, at least that was before he got his legs. He released Emyd’s hand, his own had grown clammy, and stood on his own the best that he could. Still, his slightly shaking frame gained him a questioning look from Lea.

Sora maintained confidence, “Emyd and I are from Atlantica. It’s mostly uh, unexplored ocean and a few kingdoms.” Sora decided to leave out the part where it was called Atlantica because that was what his people called King Triton’s kingdom-- even Emyd’s human legends said that was the reason.

Lea smiled at that, “An ocean, huh? Hey, if we’re in another world already, why don’t we move there?” He nudged Isa, with a smirk. Isa nodded, looking thoughtful as though he were truly considering it. Perhaps he was, but the blue haired boy was no Emyd. Sora found him incredibly hard to read.

Grunting was heard some ways away. The boy who was walking on all fours was glaring at the door to the tower, his teeth bared defensively. Sora squinted, about to ask Emyd what was wrong with the peculiar older boy, but he never got a chance. Ienzo was tugging Kairi to him just as Emyd place a protective arm on Sora’s shoulders-- they had nothing to fight with should something threatening come out of that tower, the merman realized. It looked as though, save perhaps Ienzo and Kairi, and the boy on all fours, that everyone else had weapons of some kind. Even Isa had produced the small knife that Emyd had seen before. The boy on all fours pawed at the ground followed up by banging his fists into the dirt.

The tower door swung open.

A elderly man stepped out. He had long gray hair spilling out from underneath a blue hat with golden stars. He carried himself with his head high and eyes ever watchful. He looked to each person in the field and then frowned. He looked at each one again as he descended the steps that came out of the Tower. Behind him, at each side, there were two peculiar creatures. One was most definitely a duck, though the biggest one that Sora had ever seen and he was wearing clothes. He held in his rather hand-like wing a blue baton with a star. The other seemed to be a very large bipedal dog of some unknown breed, dressed in armor and holding a shield out in front him.

“There are... _ more  _ of you here than I would have anticipated,” said the old man. He did not smile, but his shoulders eased, “But my spell would not have brought you here if you were not worthy.”

“Spell...Like magic?” asked Sora. There was only one person who he knew could do magic-- the sea witch Ursula who had not been seen in years.

“ _ You’re _  the reason we’re here?” snarled Lea, a bit disbelievingly. His nose curled up at the other.

The man waved his hand, “Be angry with me if you want, Lea. But your comfort is less important than the fate of our world.”

“Were you eavesdropping on us too?” snapped Lea. Isa put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and glared at the old man.

“Who  _ are _  you?” Isa’s eyes analyzed the man with an icy glare.

“I am Yen Sid, the sorcerer,” he replied, seemingly paying Isa’s glare no mind, and turning on his heels, “I suggest you follow me upstairs. Donald. Goofy.” The duck and dog saluted and continued to flank the sorcerer faithfully.

The group stood there for a moment, watching Yen Sid enter back into the tower and enter up a long staircase that they could see inside. All watched and Sora hadn’t noticed he wasn’t breathing until he needed to take a gasp of air. There was pressure tensing on his shoulder. He reached up and squeezed Emyd’s hand gently, before peeling it off his shoulder. Sora took a few steps on his own, heading towards the door.

“Sora,” warned Emyd, quickly catching up to him, noting Sora still had quaking knees.

“Don’t tell me you’re going in there,” hissed Lea.

“I think if he was going to hurt us, he’d have done it already,” reasoned Sora with a shrug.

Sora was surprised to find Kairi joining him at his side. The girl smiled at him, nodding softly, “S-So-rah’s right. Besides, we can’t just sit out here twiddling our thumbs if we want to go home!” Sora and Kairi shared a smile while Emyd and Ienzo shared weary looks, following the two inside.

Sora needed help getting up the steps, but Emyd helped him along the way. The stair case seemed to be supported by nothing at all as they traveled up its winding length to a door. Without a moment’s hesitation, Sora turned the knob of the door to the room behind it. Yen Sid sat at a remarkably plain wooden desk, Donald and Goofy at his sides. Sora still was unsure which one was which, but he at least knew their names now.

Yen Sid actually gave the small group of them a soft smile, “Let’s wait for the other’s shall we?”

A small war of attrition began. It took about an hour, in truth, of  waiting in awkward silence. Emyd and Sora had stood at the window of the room, looking out at the stars. Ienzo and Kairi had began to scan the books of the shelves. Kairi and Sora would turn occasionally to wave at each other, but Ienzo always caught her attention away, with a soft comment or touch to her arm.

Aqua was the first one up, greeting Yen Sid respectfully as she came in. Riku came in as quietly as ever. In fact Sora didn’t notice until Ventus entered not long after, with a loud statement of his boredom which had garnered him a scoff from the pirate. The rest took longer still. The animal-like teenager had finally made his way upstairs, sniffing at the edges of the room. Sora watched him for a bit, with some amusement before growing bored and turing his eyes back to the stars, basking in their light.

At long last, Isa and Lea entered, the redhead behind his friend, scowling. Lea had his arms crossed and dared not look Yen Sid in the eye. Yen Sid relaxed back in his chair, sighing softly, “Gather here, children.” Sora watched Lea roll his eyes as Emyd nudged his friend in front of the desk. Yen Sid looked them over, as though he were making sure that they were all here. Even the nameless animal boy seemed to be listening, though he stood near the door. Yen Sid continued, “Have any of you heard of a keyblade?”

Sora tilted his head. He knew what a key was and what a blade was, but a keyblade? Everyone else seemed as confused as he was, looking between each other. After a moment, though, Kairi did speak up.

“My grandmother...she used to tell me a legend before she passed away…” she said, softly, “That there was a great battle called the Keyblade War that plunged every world into darkness. But it could not stop the light in the hearts of children, which helped light survive and stay in the world bringing it to where we are now.”

“It’s just a legend,” added Ienzo.

“So it may be, but it is true.”

“...I think you need to look up the definition of legend.”

Yen Sid did not seem amused by Ienzo’s comment, he sighed softly, “Despite what you have been led to believe, that legend is real. And so are the keyblades.”

Yen Sid lifted his hand. Magic sparked for a moment before a large key appeared in his hand. It matched his hat, but the golden stars had been replaced with silver ones. Two wings came down around the handle where a small keychain of a moon hung off it. The key teeth were replaced by a circular hook connected to a golden moon with the star in the center. The lot of them jumped back from Yen Sid summoning the weapon. Riku’s hand was on his pistol and Isa had gone for his knife again. The old sorcerer sighed, shaking his head before the keyblade disappeared into starlight.

“Each of you has the potential to wield a keyblade or the Call to Arms spell would have summoned you to me. Originally,” said Yen Sid folding his hands, “I expected seven of you. Seven guardians of light… But I am not opposed to training more. For what is to come, we will need every keyblade wielder we can.”

“...What is to come?” repeated Riku, stepping forward to face Yen Sid, “That’s the talk of a war, old man.” The duck seemed to balk at the comment.

“It is. Though, I wish it were not so,” replied Yen Sid. He waved his arm. Next to the savage boy, a tiny black creature with big yellow eyes and two antenna had appeared, frozen and rigid in place.

Before Yen Sid could talk, the wild boy had tried to smash his hands down on it, letting out a battle cry. Aqua had drawn her sword while Kairi had backed into Ienzo’s arms while he glared at the creature. Ienzo looked sharply at Yen Sid, “Are you mad?! That monster--”

“Is an illusion.” The wild boy had continued to try and punch it to no avail. His hands went right through. Aqua sighed audibly and put her sword away. Yen Sid nodded, leaning forward, “As I suspected, some of you have already seen these. They are called the heartless. Beings of darkness who entrap hearts within them. Their appearance in other worlds prove that the powers of darkness are on the move. Whole worlds have already been lost to these armies of heartless. And as they entered more worlds they take the hearts of those that live there, creating more heartless.”

“That’s crazy,” snapped Lea, “That just can’t happen--”

“It already has,” Ienzo said gravely, “Kairi and I lost our first home to them some years ago.” Lea looked as though he was going to snap back, but soften and scoffed looking away.

For awhile, Sora had felt like he had been being pranked. This all couldn’t be real. It felt like everything was spiraling out of control-- other worlds, a war, some ever eating darkness? It all couldn’t be real. Yen Sid had to be some bizarre vagabond, but… Kairi and Ienzo had to reason to lie. The two had been there with the rest of them, confused and dazed. Sora felt his heart ache for them and he thought, just for a moment, perhaps Lea’s was too.

“...Could that happen to Agrabah?” he asked softly, staring at his feet. Only then did Sora realize that both he and Isa were barefoot.

“It will happen to every world,” replied Yen Sid, “If we do not have at least seven keyblade wielders of light to combat the forces of darkness.” Sora was surprised that Lea remained quiet, still staring down at his feet. Yen Sid flicked his wrist, the heartless illusion disappearing. He continued, “The keyblades can be used to fight heartless, releasing their captive hearts.”

“How do I get one?”

Emdy let out a soft whine as Sora approached Yen Sid’s desk closely. He crossed his arms, Yen Sid looking almost surprised at the boy’s eagerness. Sora nodded firmly, his heart pounding in his chest. He thought of Atlantica. Of being able to travel to other world but not have his ocean home to go home to. Of all the people who had already been lost to the heartless. Everything felt surreal and foreign here-- a war, a destiny, seven whatevers. Sora didn’t care about any of them. He didn’t need to process them fully. Not right now, anyway.

His family and friends would be nothing and Yen Sid was offering him a chance to protect them.

“It will be a dangerou--”

“Yen Sid--”

“ _ Master _  Yen Sid,” the duck corrected, almost completely unintelligible. Sora stuck his tongue out at him and the duck squawked.

“Donald,” the sorcerer hushed him, “You’re young, Sora. I had hoped for you all to be older. I have another student, a keyblade wielder who I was assuming this spell would summon. He must be...out of my reach.”

“But I can help. So teach me.” Yen Sid sat back for a moment. His face was a bit blank, but he seemed to be almost marvelling at the young boy before him. All eyes were on him, except for Emyd who could barely look at his friend’s confidence.

Riku, meanwhile, was staring at him, “ _ You’re  _ a boy. You can’t protect anyone. And, to be frank, I don’t think most of here are the heroes you take us for.” His eyes wandered to Lea and then snapped back to Yen Sid.

“You’re not that much older than me,” huffed Sora, “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“You’d put your life on the line for people you don’t know?” hissed Riku.

“Yes!” replied Sora, smashing his palm onto Yen Sid’s desk. He wobbled a bit as he did so but used the frame to keep himself upright. Riku scoffed, shaking his head.

“Then you best give me one too, old man. A fool like this can’t be trusted on his own.”

“...And me, Master Yen Sid.” said Aqua, “Sora’s right, but...I believe they’d do better if I was there to help them.”

Ventus nodded, “Sounds like fun to me.”

“This isn’t a game,” Ienzo said to the other boy, but Kairi had stepped up to join the group standing before Yen Sid. Ienzo rolled his eyes and followed suit. Emyd let out another soft whine and joined them hesitantly. The savage boy did as well. All eyes turned to Isa and Lea. It was Isa who stepped forward.

“...I don’t know what you’re getting us into, but you have had no reason to lie to us so far,” he said. He looked at Ienzo and Kairi and heaved a hefty sigh, “I’ll learn.”

“...That’s nine,” Lea said softly, “Then you don’t need me right? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll  _ help _ . But...This keyblade...whatever. It’s not for me. I don’t need a weight like that. Got it memorized?”

Yen Sid looked at Lea pensively for a moment. He sat up straight and looked the boy in the eyes. Lea shifted uncomfortably, but this time managed to stare Yen Sid directly on as if challenging the other. The sorcerer nodded, “...Tell me, did you hear the trumpets or did Isa?”

“...I did.”

“...Then you were the one the spell called. While it might have grabbed Isa, you were the one it chose, Lea.” Sora blinked in surprise. The spell had chosen hot headed, angry Lea over Isa? Even now, the blue haired boy was looking sympathetically at his friend. His eyes

“...Damn you,” Lea replied, gritting his teeth as he stepped forward, his fists clenched, “Damn you and damn the keyblades.” Yen Sid sighed, sounding remorseful. He summoned his keyblade once more. Sora was surprised that the old man turned to him first, outstretching the handle to Sora.

Yen Sid stood and spoke “In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend-- no ocean will contain you then. No more borders above, or around, or below, or above so long as you champion the ones you love.” Sora reached out, holding his breath for only a moment before he placed his hands around the hilt of the key.

It was quieter than he thought it be. It felt more like a calm wave had passed over him-- almost like he was back in Atlantica, drifting on the horizon for a long day of rest until he would have to attend to his duties with Sebastian. For a moment, he thought he could hear the seagulls calling and the roar of his ocean home. His heart panged softly in his chest and he let go of the keyblade, Yen Sid taking it back and moving onto Riku. And so it went for each of them. Until the wild boy was looking up at Yen Sid.

Yen Sid smiled, “You know more than you have let on.” The sorcerer placed a hand against his chest, “Yen Sid.” The teen’s eyes lit up brightly at that. He mimicked the others movements.

“Me… Terra.” There was a slight gasp from Aqua and Sora’s eyes widened, marveling at the other. He  _ could _  speak. Yen Sid nodded and did the final ceremony.

“Take the last of this day to eat and rest,” the old man instructed, “Tomorrow your training will begin. Go into that room over there, there are three fairies who will give you new clothes and food.” Hesitant now to leave their new master, the group finally managed to slowly move into this next room. That was until Yen Sid spoke, “Emyd. Sora. Stay here, I need to talk to you.”

Sora’s heart sank deep to the pit of his stomach. Was he in trouble already? Yen Sid waited until the rest of them had filed out of the room. Emyd and Sora stood nervously before the old master-- their master. Sora was no stranger to trouble. He and Ariel got in trouble a lot and Sora courted fate every time he went to see Emyd. But this was new.

“You’re no in trouble,” Yen Sid explained, “Sora, I am… aware of your predicament.”

Sora took in a sharp breath, his heart stopping. Yen Sid knew?

The old master continued, “It is up to you whether or not you tell the others, but if water touches you, you will revert to your original form, no matter what world you’re in. Emyd, I can’t expect you to watch him all the time, but…” Yen Sid waved his hand. A silver necklace with a crown charm appeared around Sora’s neck, “As long as Sora wears this his human form will maintain even on Atlantica.”

Sora’s heart seemed to start again. It welled up happily and smile broke across his lips, “ _ Thank you. _ ” His legs...He would get to keep his legs! Yen Sid nodded and shooed the two off to join the others with the fairies. Sora’s heart felt as though it were flying. Heartless monsters and darkness meant nothing-- Sora could keep his legs and he had no plans of going back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing Chapter 2. I was so anxious to post it I almost didn't finish Chapter 4 before it. But I'm still on track and Chapter 4 is in the beta reading process as we speak!


	3. Down to Business

Training started early the next morning. Yen Sid warned that his new apprentices would not have long to train, but that he would give them as much time as possible. There was a room in the Mysterious Tower that led into one much bigger than any other. In fact, it seemed too big to fit in the tower altogether. It was a simple round, tan room with stained glass windows and a high roof which gave the apprentices plenty of room to practice aerial attacks. In truth, Ventus was the only one who could do them. Sora was surprised to find the small boy, who was not just younger than him but shorter as well, was quite adept at high jumps and flips. 

Each of them had been given a wooden sword to practice within the morning. While Sora found his legs still wobbly, he and Emyd had stayed up most of the night teaching Sora to walk properly. While it still wasn’t perfect, it was much easier to pass off that he had simply been sick and bedridden for a few days than having never walked in his life. And with the wooden sword in his hand, he felt like he was walking on air. Yen Sid had used an illusion to show them all some basic keyblade moves to practice with the wooden sword. Sora also began to pick up from the moves Riku was doing off by himself.

The three fairies that also resided in the tower went by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Yesterday, they had given some of the others new clothes. Sora had discovered it was them who had given him clothes to go with his new human form. Aqua, Riku, and Ventus had refused the clothing change, but they had insisted on it for the rest. Emyd now wore a blue buttoned-up jacket with plaid blue shorts, a silver chain hanging from the waist. Both Lea and Isa had been given new jackets in the same color as their old vests. Try as the fairies might, the best they could get Terra into was a pair of tan shorts. 

It was also Terra who completely avoided the wooden sword he was given. He flicked it around a few times but cast it aside soon. Terra had spent most of his time climbing around the room as though he were looking for something. It became a game for one of them to approach him and try to see what else he could say. At this point, he had figured out their names, but his favorite to say was ‘gorilla’. Ventus took to imitating his odd way of saying after he did. After a while, Terra took to replying with Ventus’ own name. 

Lunch had barely been a meal. Goofy had brought them some sandwiches and water, telling they had to eat quickly. Yen Sid needed them for a new lesson as soon as possible. Sora watched Emyd try to eat his lunch quickly. His fingers were covered in splinters from the sword. The young noble had dropped it more times that Sora cared to keep track of. It was of no surprise; Emyd was always trained to be a musician, not a fighter. Though some were trained to be both. 

Once, not too long after they had begun their friendship, though now it felt like it was eons ago, Sora had questioned Emyd on the very matter. Sora remembered the conversation vividly. The dawn sky had been cloudy that day as the seas prepared for a small storm. Emyd had sighed, pressing his sitar to his chest.

“My father was a naval officer… He drowned,” he murmured, softly. Sora had shuddered. Drowning was  _ horrifying _ to him-- to be underwater and not able to breathe? To be killed by his own home? Humans apparently feared it even more than Sora did. Emyd had swallowed hard, trying to gather his words, “Mother didn’t want me learning to fight. She was, well, she was afraid I might, “ Emyd winced, “ _ leave _ her too. Besides, it’s easy to pool my efforts into music training when it comes to me so naturally.”

“Does she fear the water?”

“She makes the butler bathe me still…” Emyd’s cheeks had flushed to a slight pink, not looking Sora in the eyes.

Sora tilted his head, and then after a soft heavy pause, “But _you_ don’t fear the water?”

“...Sometimes. But I respect it more than anything.” Sora didn’t quite understand Emyd’s choice of words. The young noble had been very careful in his choice of words, even Sora had noticed his pauses and thoughtfulness over his word choice. At the time, Sora chose not to pry.

“Sora!”

Sora’s head snapped up from where he was eating his sandwich. All eyes were on him, even Terra’s with a questioning tilt of his head. Sora winced with the realization he had been daydreaming, meaning he had missed an entire conversation. He look to his friend for some answers, but Emyd was picking splinters dutifully out of his hands, sandwich hanging out of his mouth. A chuckle almost escaped Sora-- if only Emyd’s mother could see him now. Her son’s usually flattened hair was frizzy and springing out of his ponytail, laying across his eyes. Certainly, Emyd looked no more the pinnacle of refinement than Terra in his shorts did. 

“Is it time to go?”

“We have few more minutes,” replied Kairi, “What kind of legends do you have in Atlantica? Emyd’s a little busy.” Emyd blushed and tried to pull more sandwich into his mouth.

“Legends? Like uh…King Triton?” Emyd had said that to him that King Triton was a legend to the humans, anyway. 

“Triton!” exclaimed Aqua clapping her hands together, “The son of Poseidon!” 

“Uh, never heard of a Po-sea-don,” he said, “But King Triton in Atlantica is King of the merfolk--”

“Merfolk don’t have a king,” snapped Riku, “Merfolk are beasts.”

Sora recoiled, glaring at Riku, “And how do  _ you _ know what merfolk are like?” Emyd’s eyes widened as he stared up at Sora. Just last night Sora had told him that he wanted to keep his status as a merman secret. Who knew if the others had merfolk in their world? If these apprentices were anything like the humans from Emyd’s world, they’d lock him in a cage no matter what blessings Yen Sid had brought upon him. Sora confidently said that once they knew each other better, he could tell them easily. 

Riku scoffed, “Every good pirate know the dangers of the merfolk. They sing songs to seduce even the hardiest of sailor into their murky deeps and eat ‘em alive!”

Sora balked. Merfolk barely ate fish! The only  _ meat _ he’d even tried was some sort of cow thing that Emyd had brought him one day. It had been delicious, but he doubted a human would taste that good. He crossed his arms, jutting out his chin, “That’s not what merfolk on Atlantica would do.”

“From you’ve said, Port Royal does seem like a dangerous place,” Aqua interjected, leaning forward, “Perhaps that’s just what merfolk do on your world. I mean your merfolk sound like our si--”

“All merfolk are the same no matter where you go.” Aqua looked a bit frazzled at Riku’s curt response. The pirate was lounging on his side, not even bother to give Sora the respect of eye contact. Sora pouted, trying to think of something to say the crass captain.  

Ventus spoke with his mouth full, “The mermaids on Neverland try to drown us sometimes. Usually, if we play tricks on them”

“Ventus, swallow before you talk,” Aqua reminded him. 

The young boy shrugged in response.  

“Well, merfolk on Atlantica are kind,” said Sora. 

“You speak as if ye met one,” scoffed Riku, “Probably under its spell if ya did.” Sora looked like he was about to bite back. Emyd watched Sora tanned fingers reach up for the necklace and he wondered what Sora planned to do, but he never got the chance to find out. Before Sora could do anything, Donald had run out, quacking up a storm that the apprentices were late. 

* * *

 

It was becoming obvious to Sora that Yen Sid did not stand all too often. Only to rise and then sit again from his chair. It made him curious into just how old Yen Sid truly was. He had so much knowledge… that Sora found incredibly boring. He had spent a solid fifteen minutes lecturing to finally lead up to his instructions on how to summon their keyblades.

“You are to look deep inside yourself and pull on your innermost light to bring the keyblade to yourself. Outstretch your arm like so and try to physically manifest it.” At that, he lifted his arm, outstretched his hand, and summoned his keyblade as he had for when he had passed on the wielding ability to them. 

Each of them raised their hands up as their master did. Sora looked to each of them, trying to see if any of them had succeeded. No one had, Sora realized, but still nervousness was itching under his skin. What Yen Sid said sounded like nonsense. How could he ever summon his keyblade? What did looking deep inside yourself even mean?

It reminded him merely of advice Sebastian would give about writing music. Sora couldn’t write from his heart, whatever that meant. Maybe he could live by what his heart told him, but how could he put that into words? Notes? How could he pull on his so-called light to summon something out of nowhere? He gnawed on his lip and looked around again to check if anyone had managed to do it. Maybe he could ask them if they knew a better explanation.

“Sora, focus,” reminded Yen Sid. 

After a short apologetic wince, Sora sighed and closed his eyes, screwing them up tight. He shoved his hand forward and tried to push all his energy into his hand. It  _ felt _ tingly, but he was pretty sure he was just imagining it. A large suffering sigh suddenly wracked through the room. Sora’s eyes opened again to see that Lea had dropped his arms. 

“This is dumb.” 

“ _ Lea _ ,” huffed Aqua, “When a master trains you--” 

The other was quick to cut her off. “Listen, I don’t believe in all this spiritual mumbo jumbo, got it memorized? And I didn’t ask to be trained.” His arms were tense, his fingers pushing tightly into his skin as he crossed his arms. Still, he managed a harsh glare at Aqua who kept her head raised high. Once more she reminded Sora of Triton, about to scold him and Ariel for playing somewhere they shouldn’t be. Aqua had the same kindliness to her that Triton had, though-- the strictness came from care, not hate. Perhaps if Lea knew Triton he could see that too, but instead, Lea looked as if he could lunge at her for so much as breathing.    

Yen Sid shook his head, “It’s alright. Calm down the two of you. While that is the most basic way to summon a keyblade, it can be different for different people. Still doing this exercise every day will help you summon the keyblade when the time is right.” Yen Sid leaned back in his chair. His eyes scanned over his pupils and Sora felt himself shrink under their watchful gaze, despite Yen Sid’s comforting words. 

The keyblade master stood, “Perhaps, Lea, you’d like a more practical test.” 

“Does that mean fighting?”

“It would.” At that, Lea smirked, crossing his arms. 

“Then let’s get to it, old man.”

* * *

Yen Sid had led them all back to the room that they had trained together in that morning. He had each of his students stand at the edge of the circular room while he stood in the doorway. As he often did for his magic, Yen Sid waved his arm. A large, towering heartless appeared. It was as tall as the room itself, a heart shaped hole in its center, long tendrils were frozen in place on its head. Large yellow eyes glared down at them.

“Another illusion,” Yen Sid said as he noted a tension ripple through the students, “But I will give this one more mass and weight. You’re going to be fighting it.”

“With what?” asked Ienzo, “None of us have our keyblades.”

“With magic, Ienzo,” replied Yen Sid, nodding gently, “The use of magic is not unlike the summoning of a keyblade, but with a little assistance. You pull on your own energy and then use a command word to trigger a spell. You’ll be trying out five simple spells. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, and Cure. The first three are offensive, Aero will create a defensive shield of air, and Cure will heal you or others if you get hurt.”

“Umm,” Emyd said, his voice squeaking slightly, “What if we can’t use the magic?”

“Then, I suggest, you work on dodging.”

Emyd licked his lips nervously and nodded, “G-Got it.”  

Sora’s heart flipped in his chest. Now there was more to learn? He could barely remember the basics of summoning his keyblade, the fighting stances that he had learned this morning, and all the tips Emyd had gave him about acting more human. Yen Sid barked a command; Sora assumed that it was to begin their training as the large illusion began to move, slamming a fist down on the ground. Sora jumped, rolling along the ground, but ending up sliding over to one side. 

His legs skidded against the floor as he tried to scramble up, running to keep away from the tendrils. Once he seemed to hit one of the large monster’s blind spots, he lifted his hand and tried a spell, “Fire!” Nothing-- not even a puff of smoke. All he succeeded in doing was catching the monster’s attention. The creature turned his head, yellow eyes flashing brightly. Its hands lifted. Sora stepped back, his legs quaking as he tried to remember how to roll away as he did before. 

A flash of blue smacked the creature in the face. It wasn’t big, but it was something. Sora turned his head to see Emyd who gave him a quick thumbs up. His grin was elated as he quickly dashed away, the monster’s gaze moving towards where Emyd had shot him from with his weak Blizzard spell. Sora dashed away, realizing what to do. 

“Hit it with magic, savies!” barked Riku, suddenly, “Keep it distracted!” Sora had opened his mouth to say the same thing. The bitter twang in his heart didn’t last long. As long as the other ones knew then it didn’t matter. Right now he had to focus on dodging the monsters hits when they did land. It was already raising its hands again to slam down against the floor. Sora looked up after another failed roll to see Riku struggling to cast Fire just as Sora had been before. Its hands were starting to come down fast.

Sora rushed forward, maybe with some luck he’d be able to lessen the blow. How, he didn’t know. His magic wasn’t working and he had no keyblade. Riku changed his spell at the last minute, “Aero!” Wind gushed about him, wind connecting with hurricane vortex. The blast of air that resulted blasted Sora into the wall. A loud crack sounded as he hit it, groaning softly. He leaned over onto the ground, feeling as though he might wretch on the floor. 

“Cure,” he muttered, “Cure. Cure. Cure. Cure. Cure” His eyes tightened as he kept chanting the word, desperate for a result. He could hear the monster rearing up again.

“Cure!” Sora felt relief well up through him, though the spell wasn’t his own. He looked up, feeling his bruises and breaks heal, to see Aqua. Her sword was drawn and she had managed a few hits on the monster’s arms. Not to mention, it seemed that she had realized her own magic. She jumped back away from the monster and pointed her sword, “Thunder!” A loud crack of thunder erupted in the room, hitting the illusion they faced. 

“Thanks, Aqua,” managed Sora as he pulled himself up. 

She smiled back at him, “Just doing my job.” Aqua flipped out of the way as Ienzo managed to cast a fire spell, but had misaimed it. All it managed to do was singe the skin of the monster and enrage it further. Sora jumped away again, trying to find another blind spot to test his spells. Still, he was getting disoriented. Their weak level spells were doing something, but not much especially when most of them could barely do more than make embers or small icicles. 

As the battle continued, Aqua was clearly getting too tired to be the only one hitting the monster. Terra had tried to get close, only to be smacked against the wall after a few moments on the monsters back. Sora had attempted to cure him to no avail. It was getting to be a hard-fought battle. If it was to continue any longer, the monster would win solely on attrition. They needed something stronger than their magic or Aqua’s sword fast.

Sora had perfected his rolling at least, easily getting from one edge of the room to the other. Still, it disoriented him each time. Somersaulting on land was quite different than it was in the water. Once, Emyd had tried to swim with Sora by their rock and had gotten water clogged up his nose from trying to somersault. It had been such a slow one too, messy and with his arms flailing too much. He could only imagine that was how he had looked to Emyd during the entire battle.

Emyd!

During the confusion of his rolling and lack of spells, Sora had completely lost track of him during the battle. He his whipped around the room, looking to see if his friend was okay. The merman could only fear the worst. Yen Sid gave this monster the mass and weight it needed to fight them-- perhaps it could kill them too. Would Yen Sid test that? He had warned them about the danger after all. Sora’s mind raced with a million equally terrible thoughts until he saw the predicament Emyd had gotten himself in. 

Unable to cast Aero, Emyd had begun to pile up icicles using Blizzard. The monster had its fists pushing down against his ever growing ice barrier-- but it wasn’t holding strong. Emyd’s magic was weak and Blizzard was no defensive spell. His face was turned towards the ground, eyes closed and teeth gritting as though he were in pain. Fear filled in the creases around his closed eyes. Alarm rushed through Sora’s heart. 

He wasn’t going to lose Emyd. Not now. Not so soon. Not like this. 

“EMYD!” Sora leapt forward, jumping high in the air. 

To be truthful, Sora did not remember what he did. His blood was pumping adrenaline into him, his heart pounding so loud that he could hear it in his ears as it leapt into his throat. A yell-- No, a battle cry escape his throat along with his heart. For a moment, he felt as though he were flying among the stars that he could see above in the night sky. Light seemed to shine around him. Nothing felt real, only as though Sora were rushing through a void of nothingness. But that didn’t matter-- he’d run through space to save Emyd from getting hurt by this monster, illusion or not. And then, suddenly, there was contact. Physicality returned to him as he placed pressure into his palms. He heard something slide along the arms of the monster as he did.  

It froze in place as Emyd’s ice barrier shattered. Sora huffed as he finally landed, a bit unsteady. Shadow was stopped in a frozen drip from the monster’s arm. With a hard swallow, Sora looked up at the creature. It flickered like the illusion it was. Why had it stopped? To save Emyd? Sora hoped so. Sora looked to Emyd, worried about his friend, but Emyd’s eyes were wide, his jaw slacked as his chest heaved gasping for air. Sora tilted his head and looked around.

Everyone was staring at him, all in various states of surprise. A little frown formed on Sora’s face. Were they so surprised that he had leaped forward to save his only friend? He looked toward the monster again only for a glimmer to catch his eye. His heart stopped beating for a moment.

In both his hands, he held a large key. It was silver with oddly shaped silver teeth, a yellow base, and black handle which Sora held with both his hands. He realized that it might be too heavy to hold it otherwise. At the end on a keychain was a little silver circle with two circles at the top--it looked almost like the head of a mouse. Sora hadn’t realized his stopped breathing to stare at it. Finally, a gasp escaped his lips, a smile starting to overtake him as he stared back at Emyd. 

“Congratulations, Sora,” Yen Sid said, stepping back into the room. Sora realized he must have left when the battle had begun. Still, the old man was beaming, “You are the first to summon your keyblade and I doubt that you will be the last.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I've been very busy job hunting so I fell a little behind. Chapter 5 still needs to be written, but I decided to post Chapter 3 anyway. Don't worry though, I'll catch up! Also this was one of the first scenes I thought up when planning this fic so I was super excited to write it.
> 
> ALSO HOW ABOUT THAT POTC WORLD TRAILER LAST NIGHT


	4. Determination

Night was welcomed all too quickly. After summoning his keyblade, Sora had spent the rest of the day in a whirlwind. He was flooded with a flurry of questions about how he had done it. Everyone wanted his secret-- which he didn’t have. All he could tell them was that Emyd had been in danger and he knew he had to do something. The keyblade, truthfully, felt like it had appeared on its own. Summoning it had all happened so fast that it felt like a complete blur to Sora.

While he was grateful night (and, thus, bedtime) had come to get everyone to leave him alone for just a little while, he found himself awake and staring up at the ceiling in the darkness of the room he was sharing with Emyd, Riku, and Ventus. Sora lifted his hand up to the ceiling, outstretched his palm, and opened up his heart. A soft noise-- _ chhhhing-- _ sounded as the keyblade appeared in his hand. What once had been a struggle already felt like second nature.

Sora brought his keyblade close to him, analyzing it with a sharp scrutiny. It did not look like Master Yen Sid’s at all. Somehow, Sora had expected it too. But, truthfully, his looked more like a key than his master’s. Each keyblade was unique, according to Yen Sid, but Sora had not expected such a vast difference. And the shine on the blade! It was brand new-- Sora wondered if he would have to up keep it like a real sword or if it healed itself when it was not summoned. He hoped it was the latter, he knew nothing about upkeeping a sword. He thought Aqua might, she had her own after all and was far more friendly than Riku at any rate. Then again, a keyblade could have a completely different upkeep than a normal blade.

A creak sounded just outside their door. Sliding out of bed, Sora pulled the keyblade to his side and moved towards it. Silently, he pushed the door open. The girl’s room had their door open. He looked down the hallway to see a flash of pink rush out. Surprised, Sora tilted his head.

_ Kairi…? _

What was she doing up so late? Sora opened his palm, letting the keyblade sheath itself into nothingness. Trying to walk as quietly as possible-- which was difficult, he never had to worry about creaking floors back on Atlantica-- he tailed Kairi dutifully. He followed her down the stairs of the castle all the way to the training room. His eyes had caught that flash of pink once more before she entered.

Sora pursed his lips, his fingers hesitant before the door to the training room. Whatever Kairi was doing wasn’t really his place to pry. She had a right to do what she wanted in those few moments when Ienzo wasn’t tailing her, Sora supposed. But still, he was curious-- and curiosity won out in the end. The tips of his fingers pushed on the door, opening it just a cracker where he was free to peer in.

Kairi was standing in the center of the circular room, arm outstretched and eyes closed tight. Her face was twisted up with focus, her fingers twitching as though she expected something to happen. She had no shoes on, Sora noticed. They were all given a set of night clothes, but no slippers to go with them. Emyd had bemoaned it slightly the other night. Her toes curled and the tension was clear from head to foot.

She was trying to summon her keyblade.

For a little bit, Sora watched her like that. Occasionally, she’d open her eyes as if to check if her keyblade was there, but it was to no avail. Just like everyone else that morning, her hand remained empty. Sora was still the only apprentice to summon his keyblade. He listened to her huff at what he assumed might have been a particularly close attempt. Her hand had curled expectantly-- Maybe she was nearly there. Still, time was dwindling away. Kairi seemed almost willing to stand like that until morning which Master Yen Sid warned was not good for training.

Sora pushed the door open a little more, speaking softly, “Kairi…?”

The girl jumped and turned around, her hands moving in front of her as if to protect her chest. Her eyes looked Sora up and down quickly before sighing softly, the tension in her body relaxing. With a gentle smile, she whispered, “Sora...S-Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Uh, yeah…” admitted Sora, “I wanted to make sure you were okay…” And he was curious about what she was up to.

She nodded, her auburn locks moving softly against her cheeks, “I’m fine...just…”

“Trying to summon your keyblade?” asked Sora.

“Yeah,” she admitted, quietly, “I saw what you did...how you protected Emyd and I...Well, Ienzo’s always the one protecting me, so…” Sora nodded, understanding immediately. If Kairi had summoned her keyblade to protect Ienzo, Sora would want that same power to protect Emyd.

“Why don’t you ask him for help then? I couldn’t summon mind until Emyd was in danger…Or well, the danger I thought he was in…” Sora laughed and put his hands behind his head. His laugh was infectious and Kairi giggled as well.

She shook her head again, “Ienzo would be likely to put himself in some real danger which would defeat the purpose. I keep thinking of him in danger, but it’s just not coming…” She sighed, even her breath sounded defeated. Her eyes stared down, off at nothing in the corner of the room, “And it was me who heard those trumpets too… I’m in the same boat as Lea, you know? We  _ have _  to learn how to wield our keyblades.”

The importance of it wasn’t lost on Sora. The pressure of summoning his keyblade had been there when he had tried to summon it before their training battle. But maybe that was what was holding them all back. Maybe it was the emptiness of mind that Kairi needed to focus on. Sora grabbed Kairi’s hand and squeezed it gently, without thinking. She reminded him so much Ariel that it felt like second nature.

Her eyes flickered up to them, their deep blue shaking like a stormy ocean. But there was light in it-- a bright hope shined through. It was as though Sora could see deep within in her through her eyes. Her kindness was bright, there wasn’t much that she could do to hide it. Sora slid his hands away and put them behind his head. He smiled at her before contorting his face to look like a clown with a wide smile, eyes staring at the ceiling, his tongue lolling out. Kairi laughed, the worry slipping away.

“Maybe I can try to help you,” offered Sora.

Kairi smiled and bounced on her feet a little, replying, “I’d like that.”

Sora gave her a thumbs up and she returned it. He let out a soft sigh, thinking about what advice she really needed. He still wasn’t sure exactly what he had done. Well, it was better to wing it then. He lifted his hand and his keyblade was summoned to him again quickly. It had become second nature so fast…

“Problem is I didn’t really think when I did it? Everything went kind of blank…” he admitted.

Without hesitation, Kairi raised her own hand and closed her eyes, “That could help… Master Yen Sid said that it can be different for everyone right? Maybe I just have to find my own way to get my mind blank.”

“Yeah!” agreed Sora, “We’ll do this even if it takes all night!”

Kairi’s eyes opened, glimmering brightly with excitement, “You bet!”

Sora sat cross-legged on the ground, his keyblade in his lap. He watched Kairi’s face twist and contort with thought-- too much thought. Trying to think of how to get her mind blank was going to go against the very nature of how to summon her keyblade. Her fingers outstretched, then clenched together. Sora sighed and leaned forward over his keyblade.

“Maybe I can try listing things and then you can try to focus on how those make you feel?”

“That could work!”

They nodded in unison and Sora began listing things for Kairi to feel about it. Starting with Ienzo-- they seemed to be as close, if not closer than Sora and Emyd. Maybe he was just a puzzle piece of what Kairi needed to solve her summoning problem. Sora began to expand what he knew about her in his mind. He realized that it wasn’t much.

“Say Kairi, do you and Ienzo live alone?”

“Hm? No,” she replied, fist clenching and unclenching absentmindedly, “Cid and Merlin take care of us. They’re from our old home… I don’t remember much of our old home. Just Ienzo carrying me away to Cid’s ship.”

“Ship?” Sora tilted his head, thinking of the large wooden boats that he and Ariel liked to watch. Emyd had been on ships before, but not for very long. From him, Sora had learned that it was big rocking monstrosity that made Emyd’s mother seasick, but Emyd loved them.

“A spaceship. Cid’s a mechanic for them,” explained Kairi, “He flew us away...I’ve lived in Dwarven Woodlands with them ever since.”

“What was your home called?”

“...Radiant Garden.” Kairi sighed and closed her eyes tight, seeming to focus on the emotion talking about her long gone home gave her. But once again nothing appeared. Sora and her shared a weary look. They were in for a long night. 

* * *

 

“Have any of you seen Kairi?”

The gaggle of six keyblade wielders that were sitting at the table looked up. Ienzo had appeared looking as though he had just rolled out of bed and into a tornado. His normally flat hair was frizzy with bedhead, his clothes rumpled against his body. In addition, his chest was heaving as he scanned over the room where the rest of them had been enjoying a brief breakfast before their long day of training.

“She wasn’t in our room when she woke up,” said Aqua, who had slid part of her breakfast into the fire that had been lit to keep the food warm and was now making her way to sit down, “I assumed she was with you.”

“Well, she  _ wasn’t _ ,” Ienzo all but hissed.

“Calm down, man,” huffed Lea as he lazily picked at his breakfast as though he had all the time in the world to eat it, “It’s a tower with no roads. Where is she gonna go?”

“Anywhere in this...magically large tower?”

“Not likely,” he huffed.

“Lea’s right,” agreed Isa, “Eat some breakfast, we’ll look for Kairi after we have some.” Ienzo squinted, looking at the blue haired boy skeptically.

“We promise, Ienzo, sit down,” agreed Aqua. Ienzo moved hesitantly towards the food.

“...Eat quickly.”

Lea barked out a laugh, “As if. I’m going to savor the only good food we’ll get today.” Isa elbowed his friend gently, causing Lea to wince and grab his side. The fiery ginger smacked his best friend’s arm, but Isa paid him no mind.

“Has anyone seen Sora?” said Emyd, entering, speaking between yawns. He tiredly got in line behind Ienzo, grabbing up a plate once the other was out of his way.

“Sora’s gone too?” asked Aqua.

“Is someone else gone?” asked Emyd, waking up a little.

“Kairi,” answered Ienzo, sitting down and quickly eat, but making an effort to not be messy, “If that fool friend of yours--”

“Sora would never hurt her. Pretty sure being with Sora is the safest she can be.”

“He does have our only keyblade,” reminded Aqua. Gently, she tapped Ventus’ cheek. The boy had fallen asleep in his plate of food but now shot straight up causing a giggle to rip through the small group.

“If they take their sweet time making goo-goo eyes at each other, they’ll miss breakfast,” said Lea, dropping a piece of bacon into his mouth with a contented hum. Isa smacked his friend’s arm again while Ienzo grit his teeth.

“Kairi would not--”

“GUYS!”

Everyone looked up to Sora and Kairi rushing in. Both were in their pjs, dark circles under their eyes, but smiles painting their faces. Their hands were clasped excitedly, fingers squeezing into each other. Sora practically keeled over to catch his breath and Kairi giggled, sliding her hand out of his to pat his back. He looked up at her and gave her a thumbs up, which she returned.

“Sora,” began Emyd, “Wha--”

“Everyone!” Emyd’s laughed at his friend’s excited interruption. Sora continued, “Kairi’s got something to show you.” A wave passed over the group-- disbelief, excitement, and anxiety rested on their shoulders. Was it really what they thought it was? Sora was practically bouncing on his feet, watching the young girl. Her cheeks were dusty with rosy pink in embarrassment.

Despite that, Kairi raised her hand, closing her eyes. After a moment, a soft noise sounded a mix of beautiful bells and the same swift chime of Sora summoning his own keyblade. In her hand, Kairi held a keyblade. It’s body was a long, starting out sandy and then becoming bright and dark red as the sun. The teeth were a bouquet of entwining flowers while the handle was the same sandy color, with a bit of blue that shimmered like the ocean. The keychain on the end was a little star shaped fruit. She opened one eye as if to check it was okay and then other, her shoulders relaxing and pulling the handle of the blade to her chest.

Ienzo had shot straight up at her summoning, his lips shaped by surprise as he tried to get the words out. Sora pumped his fist in the hair, a motion that Kairi had taught him the previous night while they tried to find how to summon her keyblade. Riku scoffed, rolling his eyes and returned his attention to his food. Aqua’s eyebrow furrowed, but she smiled happy for the girl.

“How did you do it?” she asked.

“Sora helped,” admitted Kairi, “But we figured it’s gotta be something that you feel really emotional about. Enough that your mind goes blank. I think that was Master Yen Sid was getting at earlier…”

“Indeed it was,” Master Yen Sid said, spooking Kairi enough to reel around and face him with her keyblade. He chuckled, as she let it disappear. He added, “Though for some there may be more to it than that. But congratulations. Finish up breakfast and meet me in the training room. Post haste...Sora, Kairi, do be dressed when you get there.” The two laughed nervously, Sora throwing his hands behind his head as he tried to shrug off the comment.

After that, Yen Sid merely picked up a cup of tea. He began to walk out when Lea slammed his fist down on the table. The plates and cups rattled and a few of the future keyblade wielders grabbed onto their things to keep them from falling. Terra grunted at the sudden clattering. Lea scoweld.

“You have to be less cryptic, old man. Got it memorized?”

“I’ll memorize that indeed, Lea,” said Yen Sid, raising his eyebrow, “But somehow I feel as though I could tell you exactly what you needed to know and you would still not understand.” Yen Sid left the room quickly at that.

Everyone’s eyes trained on Lea, except Isa. The blue haired boy just sighed and continued to eat his food. Lea scowled and shoved his plate away, “I’m not hungry anymore.” After a few moments, though, Lea quickly shoved the last few bites of his meal into his mouth. He grunted and left the plate on the table before storming out.

Isa stood and picked up both their plates, putting them in the bin that was labeled for them. He looked at the rest of them, but did not smile as he spoke, “You’ll have to forgive him.” No one said anything for a moment and Isa turned to go.

“It’s okay,” said Sora, wanting to fill the void of silence.

Riku, who had remained silent during the entire affair finally spoke up, “Not everyone can be Sora, mate.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” asked Sora, but Riku had already dumped his plate into the bin and pushed past Isa to leave.

* * *

 

Sora had noticed a sense of tension had entered between the keyblade wielders. Yen Sid had put them up to fighting a killable hoard of heartless illusions. They were fairly easy to beat-- Sora and Kairi needed to just hit them a few times for them to go away. A spell or two did the same trick. But the others seemed focused on other things instead of the easily killable targets.

Kairi had realized she could direct her magic through her keyblade. Her spells were weak, but they got the job done. Sora had tried to imitate her, but had only managed a bit of smoke instead of a true Fire spell. The two of them knew they had to focus on themselves, but hard not to watch the others throwing themselves into trying to summon their keyblades.

Terra and Ventus were aiding each other. Sora hadn’t noticed, but in the short time that they knew each other, Ventus little games with Terra had caused the odd teen to trust him. Terra was tossing Ventus into the air where the other would practically fly to side of the room to get a good momentum to get at the illusionary heartless. Ventus shut his eyes frequently, which clued Kairi into realizing that they were trying their own way to summon their keyblades. It was relief that Terra did understand what was going on, even if he did not speak the way the others did. Both of them at least seemed to be having fun. Which was better than anyone could say for the others.

Riku was slicing through heartless illusions like butter, he didn’t scream or yell but Sora was horrified of the look in his eyes. It was something dangerous and dark lurking beneath the eyes of someone who was not much older than himself. In those moments, Riku looked far older than any of them. Especially Lea, who had mastered the Fire spell and moved onto Fira. He was blasting their enemies with shouts and yelling-- and showboating. Anytime Lea could include a flip or a jump to kill the illusions in a fancy way, he did so.

Ienzo was practicing rounding out his magic, keeping Kairi in an almost constant protection of Aero and then Aerora when Yen Sid told him to test it. He was keeping his distance from the heartless illusions but would cast offensive spells if they got close. When he did, he tried to outreach his hand as Kairi and Sora had done. No one else seemed to be having the luck the other two had had. Emyd had stuck to using Blizzard and Blizzara, almost looking too nervous to make a real move to try and summon a keyblade.

To no one’s surprise, Isa and Aqua were taking the most seriously. Both were practicing both offensive moves and magic. Isa kept Lea covered with Cure or Aero when he had the chance while he also racked up kills with the spawning illusions. He didn’t showboat like his friend. Instead he did everything quickly, mixing magic with knife play. One slash. Fira. Remove knife. Plunge, twist. Blizzard. He terrifyingly efficient, used to fighting in a way Sora knew he was not.

He preferred to watch Aqua. She moved like an incredibly strong dancer, legs carrying her quickly from one end of the room to the other, her sword slicing through the hoard easily. She was switching back and forth between magic and offensive as well. Each time, her face hardened, brows furrowing tightly as she mulled over the words that Yen Sid had spoken and the advice Sora and Kairi had given them.

It wasn’t like her to struggle this much. Things came easily to her often. Of course, she worked hard. One did not get to be a hero by resting of the laurels of natural talent. But summoning this keyblade felt like a puzzle that she could not crack. Her frustration was growing. She was a student of one of the greatest hero trainers of all time! If she was nothing else, she was determined.

With a quick jump, she launched herself high in the air. Her heart did not beat quickly-- this was at least some form normalcy. The heartless had appeared on Olympus Coliseum and had quickly began to join their tournaments. These were the weakest breed of them that she knew, but she and her fellow junior heroes had faced tougher heartless in the tournaments. Her heart soared thinking of showing them what she’d be able to do.

Midair, she turned to face the ground, her body twisting elegantly, using Aero creatively to push herself around. She had gotten the idea to use the spells for things they were not meant for by Emyd’s Blizzard shield the previous day. A hero had to be versatile with their weapons. Magic was typically the gods’ forte, but she was honored to get to use it.

Her eyes squinted down at the ground, a small cluster of the illusions gathering in the center. If she struck them with her sword hard enough while hitting them with a big enough Thundara shot, it would create a small shockwave that could take out most of the room. That could at least give the rest of her team a reprieve. They were looking bored and tired of the endless wave was it was. She let her eyes slip closed, letting the air guide her. She knew she was moving too fast to truly keep them open anyway. In her free hand, she charged up a Thundara spell.

It felt like her heart, suddenly was opening like a blooming felt. Her focus was too much on her goal, on achieving what she had to get done. There was nothing to care about her body. The physical form needed to be kept in check, of course, but the shot right now was more important. She had done similar moves before. Safety, assurance, confidence coursed through and into the bloom in her heart. Aqua had control of her situation.

Her sword touched down into the illusions, but so did something else. Thudara crackled around to the illusions out of not her hand but something in her hand. Remembering her two sword training, Aqua kicked her feet up in the air, spinning on the hilt of her sword. Normally, this move was meant for enemies close by, but a Thudara spell cast through it...If it was what she thought it was…

The move worked swimmingly. Yen Sid had stopped summoning the new illusions-- Aqua’s spell had killed them faster than he could accurately create them. She spun gracefully around the hilt of her sword, hitting just about every heartless in the room, excluding ones that the others had grabbed before the spell at hit their part of the room. Aqua popped back down onto her feet and pulled out her sword, sheathing it. Her eyes opened with a confident smile. Her fingers she held the hilt of her own keyblade.

It was blue and angular, decorated with hollow diamonds. It was not long, which she felt meant it must have a preference for magic if that power Thundara spell had anything to do with it. The hilt was black with two ivory horn like adornments. The teeth were inverted, pointing outward along a diamond shape. The keychain that dangled from the hilt was shaped like a teardrop with a blue gem in the center. Upon further inspection, she realized that it had the symbol of the cancer constellation etched into it. Her teacher had always wanted a student who was written in the stars. Her eyes lifted to look at the others, accepting their excited looks. Even the glare from Riku and the disrespectful roll of eyes was welcome.

She had done it.

Aqua had found her feeling and without realizing grasped it tightly. She lifted the keyblade, letting its gleam sparkle in the light. She let herself bask in it for a moment, but only a moment. Ego could be a hero’s downfall after all.

Besides, now she had others to help. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO GUESS WHOSE BACK ON TRACK. I originally 100% planned to just settle to be one chapter ahead from now on, but chapter 5 had two distinct sections that were getting so long I decided to divide it into two chapters. Also I love feedback guys it helps the writing process (it's also why I have two beta readers). Thank you so much for all the love though. The weeks pass so quickly its hard to believe I'm actually somewhat on schedule for this fic. (I've always tended to be a fic writer that kind of updated whenever but I want to actually make sure I write this bc I love this idea and I hope you guys do too).


	5. Armory

Of all of the other would-be keyblade wielders, Aqua found Riku the hardest to work with. She had taken on a teaching role quickly as the other two current wielders had decided their focus was best suited for their friends. They were helpful to an extent, but Aqua was not unused to teaching others. Of her master’s three students, she was his best. 

_ Phil...Zack...Herc _ , she thought,  _ I hope you’re okay. _

“Stop daydreamin’!” snapped Riku, pulling Aqua out of her thoughts. The other was going hard with his sword against her keyblade. His moves were calculated-- Yen Sid had warned their regular blades could shatter against the keyblades. Apparently, Riku favorited his blade enough to be careful with his strikes.

Aqua grunted as she kept her hands steady, the weighty blade in her hands, “You’re supposed to be trying to summon your keyblade!” 

Riku scoffed, saying nothing. Instead, he simply ducked under and knocked Aqua’s legs out from under her. Aqua tumbled, her cheek smacking onto the cold floor of their training room, her keyblade slipping from her fingers with a soft clang. She lifted her head up in time to see Riku pointing a gun at her, her eyes trailing up the barrel. 

It didn’t last long. 

Before Riku could so much as smirk, he was being pulled backward. Aqua watched his behind unceremoniously hit the ground and he grunted. Behind him, Terra stood unamused. The beast-like teen lifted his calloused hand to Aqua with a soft grunt, “Aqua, okay?”

She nodded, taking his hand, “I’m fine.” Her hand felt so small in his own. The palms of his hand were coarse and rough, marred by scars. What kind of life had Terra lived before coming to the tower? The most anyone could get out of him was the word gorillas. They were starting to wonder if maybe it was something of a last name or family crest. 

“Get your paws off that, you right bas-”

“Riku!” snapped Aqua. She looked behind Terra to see that Ventus had managed to nab Riku’s gun. Apparently, it had dropped when Terra had pulled him down. Riku was pushing himself, reaching for Ventus, who was giggling and backing away. Their little tiff was catching the attention of the rest of the trainees. 

“You shouldn’t be pullin’ guns on nice ladies, codfish,” said Ventus with a smirk, “Ain’t, uh, curt’us.”

“ _ Courteous _ ,” hissed Riku, pulling his gun back by the barrel, “And if you all would stop worryin’ about magic keys, you’d realize that in a  _ real _ fight, no one cares who you are. They’ll do whatever it takes to kill ya.”

Isa approached them, “Maybe...Though we don’t have guns in Agrabah. Yours was my first time seeing one. Still, though I hate to admit it, I agree. We need to be prepared to have to fight anyway we can.” 

Riku smirked and looked as though he were about to speak up, but Isa interrupted before he could continue. 

“But that doesn’t mean we need to go about acting like savages during training.” 

The silver-haired pirate scowled but said no more. He merely walked briskly across the room, as though a hurricane were at his feet, spraying everyone in his path. Aqua watched him go with a sigh. Yen Sid insisted that they were the ones to save the worlds, but most of them still were struggling not just to summon the keyblade, but with magic. And Riku seemed outright adverse to summoning his keyblade. 

Sora and Emyd watched Riku as well. The so-called captain had managed to move his way over to the practice dummies that Yen Sid had given them for today. One was in Sora’s hands, allowing for Emyd to try and swing Sora’s keyblade at it, but every time Emyd went to use it, the blade disappeared. They tried to move on to magic, but Emyd was having a hard time producing more than just a few icicles. 

Riku drew his sword and dug it into the dummy he faced. Emyd and Sora shared a look before nodding at each other quietly. The blond squeezed his friend’s shoulder before grabbing his dummy and trotting over to Kairi and Ienzo. Sora sighed slightly, puffing out his cheeks before putting on his best smile. Aqua probably needed a break anyway-- she seemed to have struck up a training session with Ventus and Terra anyway.

“Hey Riku,” said Sora, happily, “Would you like so--”

“Leave me alone,” he snapped. 

The merman tried to not let his smile falter, “Listen, you heard the trumpets right? You gotta learn how to summon the keyblade eventually.”

Riku sighed, with a quick turn of his wrist, he pointed his sword at Sora’s throat. Sora’s eyes widened, staring down at the sword with a soft gulp. Riku growled, as lowly as he could (which was pretty low, Sora admitted), “I’m aware.”

Sora lifted his hand and tapped Riku’s sword away from his neck, “I think we’d be able to help you more if you stopped pointing weapons at us.”

“I don’t  _ want _ your help,” Riku replied curtly before turning back to the practice dummy. 

A long sigh escaped from Sora as he crossed his arms, “All of us need help.”

“I’m not a child like the rest of you.”

“Aqua’s older than you, seaweed for brains. So is Terra, I think. He looks it anywa--”

“Age doesn’t matter.” Riku’s frown was terse as he dug his sword deep into the practice dummy’s chest. He slid it out and huffed gently. Anger still bit at his voice, but he did manage an attempt at being civil, “I’ve got more  _ experience  _ than the lot of you. With dealing with people who want you dead.”

With an opened palm, Sora summoned his keyblade and took up a fighting position. Riku looked at him with a raised eyebrow. The silver haired pirate scoffed before turning his attention back to the dummy. Sora let his lips transform into a cat-like grin. Maybe he could see if Riku was not a child as he claimed. The merman prodded the other with the end of his keyblade when he went for a strike, knocking the sword from its intended target. 

Riku grit his teeth and muttered at Sora, before trying again. Sora repeated the action with a bit more strength, enough to to push Riku over a bit, causing him to stumble. The silver haired pirate looked up with fire in his seafoam colored eyes. Sora pulled up his keyblade, holding it on his shoulder with a giggle. The other didn’t give him a chance to try his trick a third time. 

With Sora’s guard down, Riku lunged forward, slashing at the other’s side with his sword. The cut wasn’t deep, but Sora could feel an open wound and a rip in his shirt. Air sucked in on the open cut till it stung. Riku turned quickly lunging for another hit, but Sora quickly put his keyblade in front of him to guard the attack. Metal hit metal with a resounding clang. 

“ _ Never _ let your guard down,” hissed Riku, “Savy?” 

Sora wondered briefly why Riku could never just  _ train _ . It seemed any fight the pirate got into needed a gun or a fatal wound for a tease. To Sora, it was as though Riku felt it was his god given duty to make their already tiring situation worse. As expected, he continued to keep up the pattern. He jumped back from their deadlock and lifted his leg up to kick Sora-- right in the wound. Before he could, Sora jumped and rolled away. 

A shock of pain screamed in Sora’s side. Sora gasped, grabbing at his cut. It gushed blood a bit faster. During his roll, he had stretched and aggravated it. He could hear Riku’s footsteps coming up behind him, but Kairi’s voice, calling his name rang out through the room which stopped Riku dead in his tracks. She pushed past the pirate, shoving him slightly with Ienzo and Emyd right on her tail. 

Sora chuckled gently, “I’m fine… It was my fault.” 

Kairi placed a gentle hand on his side and huffed, “No it wasn’t.” She cast cure quickly, though it did nothing for the rip in his shirt. Her eyes were practically glowing and she turned around on her heels. Riku was taller than her, but Kairi didn’t look any less intimidating. Her arms were crossed and chin jutted out and upwards. She scowled and asked, “What is your problem?”

“Ohhh, the poppet’s gained a voice now that she’s a big bad wielder,” Riku practically barked followed by a cruel laugh. Ienzo looked like he was about to step between them, but Kairi bit back. 

“We’re  _ all  _ wielders, Riku!” she said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but we’re all on the same team!” 

“Team? This isn’t a game, poppet. This is life and death,” he sneered.

“Oh my… You thick headed--!” began Kairi before she was interrupted. 

As she was about to yell at Riku, Ienzo stepping toward her to grab her shoulder, Donald ran into the room, quaking wildly. He skidded and nearly hit the wall, panting. Everyone's attention turned from Riku and Kairi to him as he caught his breath. He looked up at the wielders, looking rather alarmed, “It’s an emergency! You have to go see Yen Sid!” 

* * *

 

The news was worse than any of them could have thought. 

Another world, a small one called Destiny Islands, had been lost to the heartless and their darkness. Yen Sid looked grave where he sat at his desk. For a moment, Sora had noticed that the old master looked incredibly weary. His eyes were traveling to each of his students one by one. All of the students felt the shock to their core, standing disheartened and on edge in front of their master. 

Except for Riku. 

The captain had taken his usual position in Yen Sid’s office, leaning in the shadows by the bookcase. He did not know of these Destiny Islands, but it sounded like a paradise compared to Port Royal. If his world had fallen to the heartless, he would not have been surprised. The people who lived in his world were already heartless-- himself included. Riku never tried to fool himself on that fact. 

But that also meant that he didn’t have time to mourn a world he didn’t know. 

“We have to leave don’t we?” asked Riku from behind the bookcase, shaking his head. He already knew the answer. 

“Yes,” replied Yen Sid. The others looked up at their master, fear and shock rippling through the room. The old master continued, “We can no longer afford to keep you here. Keyblades or not, you need to fight for these worlds.”

“Not all of us have our keybla, well, um, our keyblades yet,” said Emyd, picking at the belt of his pants.

“I have a small armory that the rest of you can pick from,” replied Yen Sid, “It is full of regular and magical weapons that you can utilize until you can summon your keyblades.” The old master paused, as though he were deep in thought.

Goofy, who had been standing guard at the door, piped up, “Besides! It might be that the rest of you need to be out fightin’ to get your keyblades.” Riku scoffed at the idea. At least he might be able to get his hands on a sword that could kill these real heartless. While Goofy’s words had no effect on Riku, it did brighten the others a bit. They had not known the odd bipedal dog long, but he was incredibly genuine with them and in his kindness. Any outsider would have known it from his words alone. 

Yen Sid rose and led them to another door along the winding staircase of his tower. He pushed the door open, revealing indeed a small armory. However, it was also short on space. It was not well lit and dark weapons were piled on tables, pushed under those tables, hanging from the ceiling, and lying idly on the floor. Layers of dust coated all of them. The old master cast a simple fire spell and lifted his hand to lead them all inside. 

It was a tight squeeze. Each of them began to kick weapons under the tables to make more room. Yen Sid lifted the flame on his hand to a lantern that hung from the ceiling. It did not do much better to light up the room, but there were more that he began to light. Aqua realized what he was doing and started helping him. The rest began to wander as best they could in the tight space.

“Hey, there’s a sitar in here!” exclaimed Emyd. The blond teen was dragging out a dusty blue sitar from behind one of the tables. He lifted it, the shape sitting familiarly in his hands.

“Leave it to you to find that!” replied Sora with a cheerful laugh. It was one he had needed. He had been unusually quiet since the news about Destiny Islands. 

Yen Sid approached Emyd, “Do you know how to play, Emyd?”

“Yeah,” replied the musician, “It’s my favorite!” He started to strum idly. 

“Careful,” said Yen Sid, albeit warmly, “That is Arpeggio; it’s magical. Under the right hands, it’s magic can be used to control water. If you already know how to play, though, I think you’d be quite good. ”

Emyd’s eyes brightened with an excited sparkle, “Really?”

“Master Yen Sid,” called Ienzo from the other side of the room, “There’s a large book over here.”

“Oh, sweet, chakram!” exclaimed Lea at nearly the same time.

Riku droned them out and began to search through a box of swords. Perhaps he could find on that resembled his usual blade. Most of the swords in the box seemed to be broadswords, but he hoped to find a decent rapier among them-- perhaps even a magical one. Considering the enchanted sitar, Riku didn’t doubt that most of them would have some kind of magical power up. 

His peace of searching would not last long. He heard Kairi before she stood beside him, her fingers idly going through a box of daggers that she had no business going through. Riku could see her auburn hair in his peripheral vision and desperately avoided looking at her. She seemed to have other plans in mind.

“We weren’t done,” she said softly.

“Oh did poppet lose her voice again?” he hissed under his breath. A loud fight in here would garner Yen Sid’s anger only. The soft-spoken, but heated words were a mutual agreement to spare their master and, thus, themselves.

“No,” she replied, “I don’t want to fight, Riku--”

“Captain,” he reminded her, “You all keep forgetting that.”

“...Did you work hard for that title?”

Riku didn’t say anything for a while. He let the sound of clinking swords and the chatter of the others looking for weapons fill the space where his answer should be. When he finally spoke, he merely replied, “More than you’ll ever know.”

Kairi huffed a little bit, “I’m not asking for you to give me your life story; just be nicer.”

“Nicer? Poppet, we just lost a world,” he scoffed.

“And what’s being mean to each other going to help?” she retorted.

Kairi had a point. Perhaps his overzealous dedication to the seriousness of the situation wasn’t helpful. Perhaps his standoffishness wasn’t either. However, Riku wasn’t in the mood to care or to change. He slid another broadsword over to the other side of the box, as if he loud clang would frighten her away. For all of the overprotection Ienzo gave her, the girl didn’t flinch at all. Riku sighed. 

“And what’s being too soft going to help?” he answered. 

“Who says soft can’t be strong?” 

He laughed bitterly, “You’re right daft.”

Kairi balled her fist up against the table, “I think the only one _daft_ here is you. I’m just trying to be nice to you. You’re always alone. You hurt Sora training today. You held that, that  _ gun _ to Aqua’s head. What are you trying to prove?”

“That we need to take this seriously.” 

It was Kairi’s turn to pause. She had long stopped filtering through the daggers, engrossed in her conversation with the pirate captain. But he was tugging on the darkest parts of her heart. She stood up straight, trying to conquer it. If she was to remain calm and not stoop to Riku’s level, it was what she would have to do. Her eyes closed and then she breathed-- it was always easy to keep herself from anger that way. 

She thought of Cid and Merlin, always proud of the way she kept her cool. She thought of Sora, just on the other side of the room watching Emyd play his new sitar, and how his heart had reached out to hers. She thought Ienzo, who knew that she was soft at heart and protected her at every turn. How he had saved her when they had lost their world. Riku reminded her of Ienzo at times--there was something about the way Riku’s eyes looked so empty. He had seen things. They were things like Ienzo had seen, the things that she could not remember. 

“I think you’re trying to prove how tough you are,” she said, finally. She had managed to keep her calm and continue, “To cover the hurt, maybe. Riku, you don’t have to hurt alone anymore. Maybe we were brought together to save the worlds, but we can be here to support each other. There’s no harm in it.”

Riku scowled at her. She sighed know that her words had simply had the opposite effect of what she wanted. The pirate was glowering down at her, growling out the words, “You think you know everything don’t you? Precious little poppet think she has me all figured out?”

Anger and despair were panging at Riku’s heart. How he hated to be told how he felt, whether the feelings were true or false. This  _ dumb  _ little girl could never know how he felt! How dare she even begin to assume that she knew anything! His mind was practically blanking to his swirling storm of emotions. If he was less of a pirate he could strike her. Instead, he just balled his fist around the hilt of a sword in the box. Darkness was swirling inside him-- maybe he could strike her. She had dared to assume after all. His fist tightened around the hilt. 

It felt like dark rose was blooming in his chest. He refused her words internally. The rose was spreading up his chest into his chest. An ugly black was infecting him, dripping through his body. Words were too power, he knew, but he had always been told to heed them no mind. Yet he had seen men kill for less. She would never know a life like that. How could she ever understand what he was going through if she did not know death?

“Uh, Riku?” she said, even softer than before, almost frightened. 

His eyes shot open, glaring at her. His lips were curled up into a snarl, but she did not see him. Her eyes were trained on the box. Confusion overtook the growing black rose in his chest. His eyes followed her own to the box. The hilt in his hand was unlike all the other swords in the box. In fact, it had not been in there earlier during the search. Slowly, he lifted it out of the box.

In his hand, he realized, was his keyblade. The hilt was a cross-stitch of red and black, the blade was black and red and looked like a devil’s wing. It’s single tooth was an angel’s wing. The keychain that hung from it was a swirling black and red heart. However, the most unusual part of the keyblade was the top of the hilt where it met the blade: another devil wing sprouted from one side around the hilt and a second angel wing mimicked it at the other side. In the center sat an icy blue eye with a black slit pupil. Riku felt as though it were staring right through him to his heart. 

He looked up at Yen Sid for answers, but his master did not look pleased as he had with the others. 

“You must be careful with that keyblade, Riku,” said the sorcerer, approaching him, sounding ever grave, “It is littered with darkness...But also light. I suggest you not rely on negative emotions to summon it from now on.” Without another word, Yen Sid moved on. 

There was not a congratulations in sight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry for the late post. I'm in the midsts of getting a job so its been hard to keep to a schedule lately. Chapter 7 is started, but it's not complete. I hope to complete it tomorrow and start Chapter 8 soon after, but I'm developing a cold it seems. I'll try and keep up. Thank you for all the lovely kudos and support!


	6. Departure

Now four keyblade wielders strong, the team was starting to feel a bit more confident. The loss of another world was still fresh in their minds, but as the group approached a large red ship that Donald and Goofy had brought to the tower, their excitement could not be contained. Whispers were spread among them as they looked at the peculiar transport, wondering what it was. The new weapons had also given them high hopes. 

Emyd had taken Arpeggio and Ienzo the magic book he had found. It could cast illusions and Ienzo was excited to learn the new magic, having already caught up to Aqua for the most part in terms of his magical prowess. Lea had quickly taken up the two chakrams while Isa had chosen a large ornate claymore that Yen Sid had called Lunatic. Ventus had selected a set of daggers that he now had strapped to his tunic. Terra had chosen a long and beautiful spear that he seemed pleased with-- he had even known the word without them having to tell him it. 

Once they had had he weapons selected, Yen Sid had enchanted them. A simple summoning spell would bring them to their side while another simple spell would send them back to the armory. Yen Sid hoped that the act of summoning would help the others get a feel for summoning their keyblades. Pressure had hung in the air then-- these weapons were not permanent. Eventually, they would be expected to summon their keyblades to them. And eventually had better be sooner rather than later. 

Still, the sight of the transport had all of them giddy. The Tower, however small, was the first new world they had all ever visited. For a time, it had seemed like it would be the only one, but the ship opened a whole new realm of possibility. Perhaps not trained long enough, the group had never felt more on top of the world than as they approached the large red craft. 

Goofy and Donald were waiting there in front of it. On each of their shoulders, stood a chipmunk. They all smiled at the group of wielders approaching the ship.

“There ya are!” said Goofy, “Everyone, this is Chip…”

“Hi!” said the one on Goofy’s shoulder.

“And Dale,” Goofy finished.

“Howdy!” exclaimed the one on Donald’s shoulder. The group let out a various awkward hello and waves at the chipmunks.

“We’re the operators of this gummi ship,” explained Chip, “We’ll be doing the upkeep of the ship while you guys travel so you just ask us for anything if you need it okay?”

“Of course, thank you,” said Aqua once no one else spoke, “Who is going to pilot it though?”

“You guys, a-course,” replied Dale. 

The group looked between themselves. None of them had no idea what flying the ship had entailed. Aqua laughed a little awkwardly as she tried to find the right words to say. She sighed thankful relief when Isa stepped up to the plate. 

“Donald, Goofy… Are you two not coming?” he asked. 

“Nope,” replied Goofy, “We have our own mission. Chip and Dale’s friend Gadget is getting us another ship so Donald and I can search for the king while you all help the other worlds.”

“We figured two quests would be better than one,” explained Donald. 

“Don’t worry about flyin’, though,” comforted Goofy, “It’s easy. And Chip and Dale can tell ya guys all ya need to know!” 

Sad smiles began to form on the group memebers' faces. They realized that they had not gotten to know the two in the short time they had spent together, but nonetheless had grown to like them very much. Goofy and Donald looked between themselves nervously noticing the falter in the group's mood. The excitement was fizzling out in favor of a more somber tone. 

“I can’t believe we have to say goodbye already,” said Kairi, softly, approaching the two and giving them a hug. Her heart felt heavy in her chest. 

Donald and Goofy hugged her back. Still, Donald wasn’t satisfied in just comforting Kairi alone. The royal magician looked at the group, “Now stop that. No long faces, okay? These gummi ships run on happy faces!”

The group didn’t seem to believe them.

Goofy quickly, “Yeah come on lets see ‘em!”

Slowly, one by one, each of the ten wielders began to smile at least softly. Riku only managed a smirk, but it was a kind one. Sora had managed to let loose the silliest smile he could which caused Ventus to laugh. Goofy and Donald nodded at each other-- they could trust these kids to take care of themselves. 

Their attention was caught by Yen Sid emerging from the Tower. He wore his usual expression, but his eyes spoke a thousand feelings: regret, worry, confidence, urgency. His students tried to focus on him as a whole and not his eyes. They held all the pressure of their mission in them. As it was, they were all trying to keep on their happy faces as it was. Still, above all, Yen Sid did seem to have some pride brimming from those windows to his heart. 

“I’ve come to see you off,” he said, “And give you a few more instructions.” From the sleeves of his shirt, he pulled out a small book with a pen and handed to Ienzo. He cleared his throat, “Ienzo, I would like it if you recorded all your adventures and anything interesting you find in that notebook. It should help you all keep everything well in check should anything… extraordinary happen.” 

Ienzo took them both and slid them into his pants pocket, “It would be my honor, sir.” 

Yen Sid nodded and then move to stand before Aqua, “Aqua, I am going to give you the spell that will hide you in certain worlds.”

“Hide us?” she repeated.

“Some worlds have a certain order that must be maintained. You’ll know them when you arrive there,” he explained, “The spell will change you all to make you all look more like the people do in their world so as to not attract attention. Commit it to memory.” He handed her the page of a spellbook which she took eagerly.

“I will, Master Yen Sid.” 

Yen Sid nodded, “We have no more time to waste then. The fate of the worlds does rest upon your shoulders--”

“No pressure or anything,” said Lea with a scoff.

“But I do have the utmost confidence you. Have that in yourselves, my pupils, and summon your keyblades soon.”

They each wished him goodbye, most of them even thanking him. Each tried to put on their best happy face as they entered the gummi ship. Riku, however, had barely mumbled his and boarded the ship quickest of all of them. A pirate captain was not one to be slighted, by any man or master. He quickly took up a seat in the corner of the ship as the others boarded. 

Sora, however, lingered. Most of the goodbyes had been cordial but respectful. Instead, Sora stared up at Yen Sid for far too long after he spoke the words. Against his chest, his necklace burned as though it were on fire. Had it not been for Yen Sid, he could never have  _ walked _ with the other wielders. Perhaps, they would never have accepted him. He smiled widely, his gratitude and joy overflowing from it, “Thank you, Master Yen Sid.” The master nodded at him and urged him to go with his hand.

The merman turned to go, but he looked back. Yen Sid stood there, the Tower behind him. Sora turned back around and rushed at his master, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. Even the old man seemed surprised by the affectionate gesture. Far taller than Sora, Yen Sid rested a hand on Sora’s head and patted it gently, “I look forward to seeing you again.” Sora looked up with a bright smile, his heart soaring with glee from the opportunity his master had given him. 

They would save the worlds. Sora knew they would. 

Once Sora had boarded and the door closed, it seemed to trap their excitement from before with them. Each of their hearts felt as though they could burst out of their chests. Their quest was really beginning and now all they had to do was take off.

All of their eyes rested on the pilot’s seat. 

Sora and Ventus lunged for it first and fastest. 

“Can I fly?  _ Pleeeeaaaseee _ ,” begged Sora, looking up at Aqua and Isa who had come up behind them. Lea, meanwhile was trying to go around Sora and Ventus to sit in the seat himself. However, Isa caught him by the arm quickly.

“Let Aqua do take off,” said Isa, “Then we’ll see.” The boys moaned, but allowed Aqua to take the seat. Chip and Dale began to instruct her on how to get the ship to fly. 

Isa sat in the co-captain’s seat in order to help Aqua while the others took their seats on the red leather couch that hugged the sides of the ship. In the center behind the command deck where Aqua and Isa were, there was also a table with a few nailed in chairs. Ienzo sat there, the notebook Yen Sid had gifted him out as he began to record the beginning of their journey. Aside from the small hatch where Chip and Dale had disappeared into long before Sora boarded and a door which seemed to lead into a bathroom, Sora didn’t see any other rooms. He sat by Emyd wondering where they all would sleep. They had been in the comfort of the Tower so long, none had thought their travels could be cramped. 

The engine rumbled, causing them to jolt a bit. Everyone was practically pressed to a window, watching the ship star to rise into the air. Ienzo had moved with his notebook to sit by Kairi at one edge of a window. Even Riku had leaned forward to stare out of one. Sora found himself lacing his fingers nervously with Emyd. The touch made it feel real and less like they would both wake up back at their rock in Atlantica. Those days of carefree singing felt so long ago now. Had it really only been three days?

As the engine slowed to a smooth thrum, the group watched their friends become like ants on the ground. They looked up, as they joined part of the sky and then like a blink, Aqua had hit a lever and sent them flying up. It was quick and had sent them spiraling against each other, Sora slamming into Riku who shoved him off rather unceremoniously once they were able to sit upright again. Still, Sora couldn’t scramble back to his seat quickly enough. 

Outside, there were stars. Endless, endless stars. The Tower was long in the distance disappearing into just another star. Sora wondered which ones around them would end up being the worlds they would save. He sighed audibly and softly, lifting a hand to press against the window. He had finally made it. 

As it turned out, Gummi ship travel involved a lot of shooting debris, for hours. The red ship was large and cumbersome. Chip and Dale explained they could try and use some materials to increase the agility of the ship, but for now the best way to keep the ship safe was to shoot at the asteroids and debris outside. The job was boring work which had already cycled quickly through from Aqua, Isa, and now Sora. Emyd had taken up the the co-captain’s chair watching him.

The rest had quickly found other things to do. The roof of the Gummi ship was high, but Isa was seeing if it was high enough to train. The blue haired teen had summoned Lunatic and was pressing it gently against the roof at different angles as if testing the give of the metal. Lea had found their sleeping areas: above the couches were two levels of elevated pull out cots. Between them and the couches, there were plenty of sleeping areas. He had taken one of the topmost. His legs dangled over the edge while he teased Isa as the other messed with Lunatic. Ventus had also grabbed an upper cot and was dangling from it upside down with Terra, the two competing to see who could hang the longest. 

Kairi and Ienzo were sitting on the couch with Kairi’s keyblade out, studying it closely. Ienzo seemed to be writing some notes on it in his notebook. Aqua was sitting at the table, studying her spell closely, doing as Yen Sid instructed. It was only Riku who still sat alone quietly, still staring out the window into the stars. Sora envied him a little bit. Shooting debris required him to not look out at the stars. 

The quiet anticipation was still hanging on them. They were all fidgety-- boring reality did that unbridled excitement. It was Kairi who finally broke the silence.

“I think we should make a pact,” she said, with a smile. 

“Like a blood pact?” asked Ventus.

“N-No,” she replied, a little confused, “But if we’re going to save the worlds, we should do something special afterward, right?” That caught Sora’s attention. He turned the captain’s chair around to listen and Emyd did the same. 

“Hey, I like the sound of that,” agreed Lea, “What did ya have in mind?”

“Well, I used to read about Destiny Islands in Merlin’s books back in Dwarven Woodlands,” she explained, “There’s a fruit there that has this legend that if you eat it with others your destinies are tied together forever.”

“The paopu fruit,” said Ienzo, “I think it’s what's on your keyblade’s keychain. It looks similar to the illustrations in Merlin’s books. Though some sources say it’s only if two people share the fruit.”

“That’s what made me think of it. So, I was thinking, if- _when_ we save the worlds, let's go to Destiny Islands and share the fruit together,” she said. 

“Go to the beach and eat some fruit?” Lea summarized, “Sounds like a vacation to me!” He laughed.

“I don’t know if I want my destiny tied to your’s, Lea,” Isa said with chuckle, prodding the roof of the gummi ship. He looked over at his friend with a chuckle.

“Well, too bad. You’re stuck with me anyway, got it memorized?”

Ventus smiled, “I think it sounds fun.” Terra grunted in agreement. A wave of positive responses followed. Sora couldn’t think of a better idea himself. He wouldn’t mind taking one of those fruits and sharing it with just Emyd. Then no one could tear them apart, not even Triton. Not even the land or the ocean. Besides, he thought confidently, they were going to save the worlds. 

Riku scoffed, “Stop makin’ plans for things we can’t be sure of yet.”

“Don’t be such a downer, Riku,” replied Kairi, crossing her arms. Riku looked away from the window where he sat. His eyes trailed Kairi up and down, as though he were thinking. If he was, Sora did not know about what. 

“Fine,” he finally replied, “If we all make it, I’ll join this little pact.” 

That got Kairi to smile warmly, “Great.” If Riku blushed, no one saw it as he quickly turned his head away with another scoff.

Just then, the ship jolted. Everyone nearly lost their balance and a few of them yelped. Terra lost his balance and fell onto the floor of the ship. They all looked around wondering if they were under attack. Where the heartless in the vast recesses of space too?

“Sora!” Chip’s voice screeched over the comms, “The debris!”

“Right!” Sora shouted, remembering that he was supposed to be doing his job. He quickly slammed his fingers down on the triggers that would fire on the asteroids. Everyone was annoyed, moaning his name as they regained their balance. For now, whether they wanted it or not, their destinies could not escape their little flaws either. And they all knew that soon they’d arrive somewhere unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe we're already on chapter 6 with a semi-regular upload schedule. That's not like me at all lol.
> 
> That being said, due to illness and job hunting I'm going to take a small hiatus to write up chapters 7-9 and get my writing energy back. I figured this would be a good as place as any to take the hiatus as he Tower Training arc is over. 
> 
> Also, don't think that this will follow KH 1's map-- this is Re:Tooled after all, but stay excited and thanks for the patience everyone!


End file.
